Method of making castellated beams



9, 1966 c. L LODJIC 3,264,914

METHOD OF MAKING CASTELLATED BEAMS Criginal Filed Dec. 30, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. CAR/- L. LODJ/C 5y HIS ATTOEA/EYS HARE/5,M501, RUSSELL 6: KER/v 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 wm QM Aug. 9, 1966 c. L. Loom:

METHOD OF MAKING CASTELLATED BEAMS Driginal Filed Dec. 30, 1963INVENTOR. CARL. L. LOD-J/C HABQ/S, MECH, RUSSELL & KERN C. L. LODJICMETHOD OF MAKING CASTELLATED BEAMS Aug. 9, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 3Griginal Filed Dec.

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United States Patent METHOD OF IVIAKING CASTELLATED BEAMS Carl L.Lodjic, Long Beach, Calif., assignor to dtanray Corporation, Chicago,Ill., a corporation of Delaware ()riginal application Dec. 30, 1963,Ser. No. 334,384.

Divided and this application Aug. 3, 1965, Ser. No. 476,913

6 Claims. (Cl. $325) This application is a division of my co-pendiugapplication Serial No. 334,384, filed December 30, 1963.

The present invention relates in general to a method of makingcastellated beams and, more particularly, to a method of longitudinallydividing a web of a beam into two parts having complementary,cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges adapted to be welded together inoutof-phase relation to form a castellated beam.

More specifically, the invention contemplates shearing the Web of thebeam, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the web, along alongitudinal line having a cyclic lateral variation in the plane of theweb corresponding to the cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges desiredfor the two parts of the web. This may be accomplished, for example, bypassing the web of the beam between two parallel shearing rolls havingcomplementary, registering, circumferentially-extending shearing edgeseach of which comprises at least one whole cycle of the desired cycliclateral variation.

A primary object of the invention is to relatively displace the twoparts of the web, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the web,a distance less than the thickness of the web while shearing it into twoparts. This effect may be achieved by making the radius of each of theshearing edges less than one-half the distance between the axes of theshearing rolls so that the shearing edges are spaced apart at theirclosest approach to each other, i.e., so that the shearing edges do notbypass.

Limiting lateral displacement of the two parts of the web to a distanceless than the thickness of the web in a direction perpendicular to itsplane, has the important effect of causing the cyclically-nonlinearlongitudinal edges of the two parts of the web to tend to remainfritionally interengaged to prevent splaying of the two parts of thebeam as the web thereof is sheared. This insures that when thefrictional interlock between the two parts of the sheared web issubsequently broken, the two parts of the beam will be straight and trueso that the cyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges of the web can bewelded together, in out-of-phase relation, to form a castellated beam.

Another object of the invention is to laterally separate the two partsof the web, in a direction parallel to the plane of the web, after anysplaying tendency induced by the shearing of the web into two parts hasbeen dissipated.

Another object is to restrain the parts of the web against lateralseparation in a direction parallel to the plane of the web until afterany splaying tendency arising from the shearing action has beendissipated.

The foregoing objects, advantages, features and results of the presentinvention, together with various other objects, advantages, features andresults thereof which will be evident to those skilled in the art towhich the invention relates in the light of this disclosure, may beachieved FIG. 1 is a semidiagrammatic perspective view of an apparatus,capable of carrying out the method of the invention, for shearing theweb of a beam along a longitudinal line having a cyclic lateralvariation in the plane of the Web to provide the two parts of the webwith complementary, cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view through the shearingrolls of the apparatus and through the web of the beam at the point ofshearing;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view through the Web of thebeam which is taken at the point indicated by the arrowed line 33 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the shearing apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along the arrowed line 55 ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an end view taken as indicated by the arrowed line 6-6 of FIG.4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the shearing apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of a portion of the shearing apparatusand is taken as indicated by the arrowed line 8--8 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the arrowed line 99 of FIG. 7;and

FIG. 10 is a view taken as indicated by the arrowed line 1010 of FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly FIG. 1 thereof, a shearingapparatus for performing the method of the invention is designatedgenerally by the numeral 20 and is shown in use to shear the web 22 of abeam 24, which may be an I-beam, for example, into two parts along acyclically-nonlinear longitudinal line 26 to provide the two parts ofthe web with correspondinglycyclically-nonlinear, complementarylongitudinal edges 23. After the web 22 of the beam 24 has been dividedlongitudinally into two parts, the two parts of the beam may be weldedtogether, with the cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges 28 180 out ofphase, to produce a castellated beam, not shown. Preferably, the twocyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges 28 respectively comprise twolongitudinal series of complementary trapezoids having straight sidesand flat tops.

In accordance with the invention, the web 22 of the beam 24 is shearedalong the cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal line 26, in a lateraldirection perpendicular to the plane of the web, without displacing thecyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges 28 of the web out of frictionalinterengagement, as shown in FIG. 2 of the drawings. In other words, inthe shearing process, the two parts of the web are displaced in adirection perpendicular to the plane of the web a distance less than thethickness of the Web, as shown in FIG. 2, so that thecyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges 28 tend to remain interfitted infrictional interengagement so as to frictionally lock the two parts ofthe web together. To achieve this result, the relative displacement ofthe cyclically-nonlinear edges 28 in a direction perpendicular to theplane of the web 22 should not exceed about 90% of the thickness of theweb, but should be at least about of the web thickness to insurecomplete shearing.

The foregoing frictional interlock between the cyclically-nonlinearlongitudinal edges 28 is an important feature of the invention since itinsures that the two parts of the beam 24 will not tend to splay as theresult of the shearing operation. If the relative displacement of thetwo longitudinal edges 28 in a direction perpendicular to the plane ofthe web 22 were to exceed the thickness of the web as the result of theshearing operation, the two parts of the beam 24 would tend to splay andcould not be welded together to form a castellated beam withoutstraightening them. The present invention insures that the two parts ofthe beam 24 will be straight and true so that they can be weldedtogether to form a castellated beam without any straighteningoperations.

To insure that the frictional interlock between the longitudinal edges28 will be adequate to prevent splaying of the two parts of the beam 24,the sides of the trapezoidal portions of the two parts of the web 22should make an angle of at least about 30 with the longitudinal axis ofthe beam. However, this angle should not exceed about 60 to facilitatelateral separation of the two parts of the beam 24, in a directionparallel to the plane of the web 22, after any splaying tendencyproduced by the shearing process has dissipated, as will be discussedhereinafter.

Considering the shearing apparatus 20 in more detail, it includes aframe 30, FIGS. 4 to 8. carrying parallel shearing rolls 32 provided ontheir peripheral surfaces with complementary, registering,circumferentially-extending shearing edges 34 each comprising at leastone whole cycle of the cyclic lateral variation corresponding to thedesired cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal line 26. As will be clear fromFIG. 1 of the drawings, the web 22 of the beam 24 is passedlongitudinally between the shearing rolls 32 with the result that theshearing edges 34 shear the web along the cyclically-nonlinearlongitudinal line 26 to produce the cyclically-nonlinear longitudinaledges 28.

To insure that the longitudinal edges 28 of the two parts of the web 22will not be displaced out of frictional interengagement, in a directionperpendicular to the plane of the web, by the shearing edges 34-, theradius of each shearing edge is less than one-half the distance betweenthe axes of the shearing rolls so that the shearing edges are spacedapart at their closest approach to each other, i.e., so that theshearing edges do not bypass, this being best shown in FIG. 2 of thedrawings. To achieve complete shearing while maintaining the desiredfrictional interlock, the clearance between the shearing edges 34 shouldbe between about 70% and about 90% of the thickness of the web 22.

Turning particularly to FIGS. 7 to 9 of the drawings, the shearing rolls32 are carried by parallel shafts 36 suitably rotatably mounted on theframe 30. These shafts carry gears 38 which are meshed together, as bestshown in FIG. 8, to insure that the shearing rolls 32 are driven inabsolute synchronism to maintain the shearing edges 34 in phase. The twoshafts 36 are driven by an electric motor 40 which is connected to oneof the shafts by a suitable gear train 42.

To obtain the correct phasing of the shearing edges 34 initially, anangular adjustment means 44, FIGS. 7 and 9, is incorporated in one ofthe shafts 36. More particularly, this shaft is split into two partsrespectively having coupling members 46 thereon. These coupling membersare interconnected by a tangentially-extending adjusting screw 48 havingportions of opposite hand in engagement with the respective couplingmembers. As will be apparent, by rotating the adjusting screw 48 in onedirection or the other, the correspuonding shearing roll 32 may beangularly displaced in one direction or the other to bring its shearingedge 34 precisely into phase with the shearing edge of the othershearing roll. Once this adjustment has been made, the two couplingmembers 46 may be suitably locked together to maintain it, as byclamping means 50.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7 of the drawings, the beam 24 is delivered tothe shearing apparatus 20 by a delivery conveyor 52 of any suitableconstruction. After shearing, the beam 24 passes onto a dischargeconveyor 54 of any suitable construction.

Considering the manner in which the beam 24 is guided and fed throughthe shearing apparatus 20, it is shown as supported therein by pairs ofsupporting rolls 56 on which the web 22 rests. Driving rolls 58frictionally engage opposite sides of the web 22 to propel it betweenthe shearing rolls 32 so that the latter are not required to feed thebeam 24 through the shearing apparatus 20. The driving or feeding rolls58 are driven in synchronism with the shearing rolls 32 in any suitablemanner, as by a driving connection therebetween which is illustratedgenerally by the numeral 60 in FIGS. 4 and 7 of the drawings. Thus, ineffect, the shearing rolls 32 merely idle with respect to the web 22 ofthe beam 24 in the longitudinal direction, there being no longitudinalload on the shearing rolls. This avoids imposing longitudinal stresseson the shearing edges 34, which is an important feature.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 7 of the drawings, the ends of shafts carryingthe driving or feeding rolls 58 are mounted on eccentrics 62 adapted tobe angularly displaced in opposite directions in unison by fluid motors64, which may be air cylinders. As will be apparent, the air cylinders64 may be actuated to angularly displace the eccentrics 62 in oppositedirections to cause lateral separation of the driving or feeding rolls58 to permit initial insertion of the web 22 of the beam 24therebetween. The air cylinders 64, which are preferably double acting,are subsequently actuated in the opposite direction to positively clampthe web 22 between the two driving or feeding rolls 58. This insurespositive frictional engagement of the driving rolls 58 with the oppositesides of the beam web 22.

The beam 24 is guided through the shearing apparatus 20, with referenceto a lateral direction parallel to the plane of the web 22, by a guidemeans which includes guide rollers 66 and guide rollers 68 engageablewith the exterior surfaces of the respective flanges of the beamupstream from the shearing rolls 32. This guide means also includesguide rollers 70 and 72 engaga'ble with the exterior surfaces of therespective beam flanges immediately downstream from the point ofshearing of the web 22 of the beam 24 by the shearing rolls 32. It willbe noted that the guide rolls 70 and 72 serve to assist the frictionalinterlock between the longitudinal edges 28 of the two beam halves inpreventing premature lateral separation of the two beam halves in thedirection of the plane of the web.

Considering the foregoing guide means in more detail, the guide rollers66 and 68 are respectively mounted on carriages 76 and 78 which arelaterally movable toward and away from each other in the direction ofthe plane of the web 22 of the beam 24, the purpose of this being toaccommodate beams of different depths. More particularly, the carriages76 and 78 are threadedly engaged by opposite handed portions oflongitudinally spaced, transverse screws 80. These screws areinterconnected for rotation in synchronism in any suitable manner, as bya chain 82, and one of them is provided with a handle 84. As will beapparent, by rotating the handle 84 to drive the screws 80, the lateraldistance between the guide rollers 66 and the guide rollers 68 may bevaried to accommodate a beam of any depth within a predetermined depthrange.

The guide rollers 66 are mounted on eccentrics 86 which may be angularlydisplaced in unison in any suitable manner, not shown, to move the guiderollers 66 into and out of engagement with the outer surface of thecorresponding beam flange. Initially, the eccentrics 86 are rotated todisplace the guide rollers 66 out of the line of movement of the outersurface of the corresponding beam flange to permit insertion of the beam24 between the guide rollers 66 and the guide rollers 68. Subsequently,and before the driving or feeding rolls 58 and the shearing rolls 32 areenergized, the eccentrics 86 are rotated to displace the guide rollers66 firmly into engagement with the outer surface of the correspondingbeam flange.

As best shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the downstream guide rollers 70 and 72are also laterally adjustable to accommodate different beam depths. Theguide roller 70 is mounted on a carriage 88 which is laterally movablerelative to the frame 30 in the direction of the plane of the web 22 ofthe beam 24, such carriage being connected, through a suitable linkage90, to a double-acting air cylinder 92, or other actuating device. Aswill be apparent, the air cylinder 92 may be actuated to withdraw theguide roller 70 out of the line of movement of the outer surface of thecorresponding beam flange. After the leading end of the beam 24 hasentered the space between the guide rollers 76) and 72, the air cylinder92 may be actuated in the opposite direction to bring the guide roller70 into positive engagement with the outer surface of the correspondingbeam flange to cause it to cooperate with the guide roller 72 to assistthe frictional interlock between the longitudinal edges 28 of the twohalves of the beam 24 in preventing splaying of the two halves of thebeam. It will be noted that this actuating means for the guide roller 70permits it to accommodate beams of different depths.

The guide roller 72 which is paired with the guide roller 70 is alsolaterally adjustable in the direction of the plane of the beam web 22 toaccommodate beams of different depths. In this case, however, a fixedtype of adjustment may be used, the guide roller 72 being mounted on acarriage 94 which is movable laterally relative to the frame 30 in thedirection of the plane of the beam web and which may be locked in thedesired position by clamping bolts 96.

The method of the invention also provides for laterally separating thetwo parts of the beam 24 in the direction of the plane of the web 22,such lateral separation involving breaking the frictional interlockbetween the two interfittedlongitudinal edges 28. A separating means100, which in this instance is shown as mounted on the dischargeconveyor 54, is located a sufficient distance downstream from theshearing rolls 32 to insure that frictional interengagement between theinterfitted longitudinal edges 28 will be maintained immediatelydownstream from the shearing rolls. As previously discussed, this isimportant to prevent any tendency of the beam 24 to splay as it issheared into two parts. To achieve this result, the separating means 100must be located at least about feet downstream from the shearing rolls32.

The separating means 106 is shown as comprising two separating orbreaking rolls 102 engageable with the inner surfaces of the respectivebeam flanges on one side of the web 22. The breaking rolls 102 aremounted on carriages 104 which are laterally adjustable, in a planeparallel to the plane of the web 22, to accommodate beams of differentdepths. As best shown in FIG. 10, the carriages 104 may be clamped inthe correct positions by means of clamping bolts 106.

As will be apparent from the foregoing, the present invention provides asimple and eifective method of shearing the web of a beam into twocomplementary parts, along a longitudinal line having a cyclic lateralvariation in the plane of the web, without producing any significantdistortion of either of the two parts. Consequently, by relativelymoving the two parts longitudinally until the cyclically-nonlinearlongitudinal edges thereof are 180 out of phase, they may be weldedtogether to produce a castellated beam without any necessity forstraightening or truing the two parts, which is an important feature.

Although an exemplary embodiment of the invention has been disclosedherein for purposes of illustration, it will be understood that variouschanges, modifications and substitutions may be incorporated in suchembodiment without departing from the spirit of the invention as definedby the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. A method of dividing a member into two interfitted parts, includingthe step of:

(a) shearing said member into two parts in a direction perpendicular toa surface of said member and along a nonlinear line, whilesimultaneously relatively displacing said parts of said member in saiddirection a distance less than the thickness of said member, so as toprovide said parts of said member with interfitted nonlinear edgescoinciding with said nonlinear line and tending to remain frictionallyinterengaged to frictionally lock said parts of said member together.

2. A method of dividing a member into two parts having complementarynonlinear edges, including the steps of:

(a) shearing said member in a direction perpendicular to a surface ofsaid member, and along a nonlinear line corresponding to said nonlinearedges, while simultaneously relatively displacing said parts of saidmember in said direction a distance less than the thickness of saidmember, whereby said nonlinear edges tend to remain frictionallyinterengaged to frictionally lock said parts of said member together;and

(b) subsequently separating said parts of said member.

3. A method of longitudinally dividing a web of a beam into two partshaving complementary, cyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges, includingthe steps of:

(a) shearing said web in a first lateral direction perpendicular to theplane of said web, and along a cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal linecorresponding to said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges, whilesimultaneously relatively displacing said parts of said web in saidfirst lateral direction a distance less than the thickness of said web,whereby said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges tend to remainfrictionally interengaged to frictionally lock said parts of said webtogether; and

(b) sequently laterally separating said parts of said web in a secondlateral direction perpendicular to said first lateral direction andparallel to said plane of said web.

4. A method of longitudinally dividing a web of a beam into two partshaving complementary, cyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges, includingthe steps of:

(a) shearing said web in a first lateral direction per pendicular to theplane of said web, and along a cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal linecorresponding to said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges, whilesimultaneously relatively displacing said parts of said web in saidfirst lateral direction;

('b) simultaneously restraining said parts of said web against lateralseparation in a second lateral direction perpendicular to said firstlateral direction and parallel to said plane of said web; and

(c) subsequently laterally separating said parts of said web in saidsecond lateral direction.

5. A method of longitudinally dividing a web of a beam into two partshaving complementary, cyclicallynonlinear longitudinal edges, includingthe steps of:

(a) shearing said web in a first lateral direction perpendicular to theplane of said web, and along a cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal linecorresponding to said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges, whilesimultaneously relatively displacing said parts of said web in saidfirst lateral direction a distance less than the thickness of said web,whereby said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges tend to remainfrictionally interengaged to frictionally lock said parts of said webtogether;

(b) simultaneously restraining said parts of said web against lateralseparation in a second lateral direction perpendicular to said firstlateral direction and parallel to said plane of said web; and

(c) subsequently laterally separating said parts of said web in saidsecond lateral direction.

6. A method of longitudinally dividing a web of a 7 8 beam into twoparts having complementary, cyclically- (b) simultaneously restrainingsaid parts of said web nonlinear longitudinal edges, including the stepsof: against lateral separation in asecond lateral direction (a) shearingsaid web in a first lateral direction perperpendicular to said firstlateral direction and pendicular to the plane of said web, and along aparallel to said plane of said web; and cyclically-nonlinearlongitudinal line corresponding 5 (c) subsequently laterally separatingsaid parts of said to said cyclically-nonlinear longitudinal edges,while web in said second lateral direction. simultaneously relativelydisplacing said parts of said web in said first lateral direction adistance .at least No references cited.

about 70%, but not more than about 90%, of the thickness of said wherebysaid cyclically-now 10 ANDREW R. JUHASZ, Primary Examiner. linearlongitudinal edges tend to remain frictionally interengaged tofrictionally lock said parts of said LEIGH TAYLOR, Examine"- webtogether;

1. A METHOD OF DIVIDING A MEMBER INTO TWO INTERFITTED PARTS, INCLUDINGTHE STEP OF: (A) SHEARING SAID MEMBER INTO TWO PARTS IN A DIRECTIONPERPENDICULAR TO A SURFACE OF SAID MEMBER AND ALONG A NONLINEAR LINE,WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY RELATIVELY DISPLACING SAID PARTS OF SAID MEMBER INSAID DIRECTION A DISTANCE LESS THAN THE THICKNESS OF SAID MEMBER, SO ASTO PROVIDE SAID PARTS OF SAID MEMBER WITH INTERFITTED NONLINEAR EDGESCOINCIDING WITH SAID NONLINEAR LINE AND TENDING TO REMAIN FRICTIONALLYINTERENGAGED TO FRICTIONALLY LOCK SAID PARTS OF SAID MEMBER TO GETHER.